GENÈVE (ANP) - Sinds het begin van dit jaar zijn er zeker 606 migranten omgekomen in de Middellandse Zee, meldt de VN-migratieorganisatie IOM. Sinds het agentschap cijfers hierover begon bij te houden in 2014 zijn er niet eerder zoveel doden gevallen aan het begin van het jaar.

Er wordt gevreesd voor het leven van nog eens dertig migranten nadat hun boot afgelopen zaterdag in zwaar weer is gekapseisd voor de Griekse kust. Twintig mensen werden gered, onder wie vier minderjarigen. De boot was vorige week maandag vertrokken vanuit Libië.

De IOM roept op tot meer zoek- en reddingspogingen op de Middellandse Zee. De organisatie wil ook meer internationale samenwerking om mensensmokkelnetwerken op te rollen.

De Middellandse Zee vormt een belangrijke route voor veel migranten die vanuit Noord-Afrika naar Europa willen reizen.

De Britse voormalige ambassadeur voor de Verenigde Staten Peter Mandelson is meegenomen uit zijn huis door de Britse politie. Dat meldt de Britse krant The Times. De politie laat weten een 72-jarige man te hebben gearresteerd.

AMSTERDAM (ANP) - De aangekondigde importheffingen van president Donald Trump zorgden maandag voor een nieuwe domper op de Europese aandelenmarkten. Tegen het einde van de handelsdag kwam de beurshandel extra onder druk door verliezen op Wall Street.

De Amsterdamse hoofdindex eindigde 0,1 procent lager op 1016,45 punten. Vrijdag sloot de AEX 1 procent hoger door opluchting over de uitspraak van het Amerikaanse hof dat een groot deel van de tarieven van Trump onwettig was. Maar Trump kondigde daarop direct een nieuw wereldwijd invoertarief van 10 procent aan op buitenlandse goederen en verhoogde dat tarief later naar 15 procent.

De MidKap verloor 0,3 procent op 1018,64 punten, mede door een verdere koersdaling van Arcadis (min 5,1 procent). De Duitse investeringsbank Berenberg schroefde het koersdoel flink terug na de tegenvallende resultaten van het advies- en ingenieursbureau van afgelopen week. Toen werd Arcadis al fors lager gezet door beleggers.

De beurzen in Londen, Parijs en Frankfurt verloren tot 1,1 procent.

BRUSSEL (ANP) - De Hongaarse blokkade tegen een nieuw EU-sanctiepakket tegen Rusland en een lening van 90 miljard euro aan Oekraïne drijft EU-buitenlandchef Kaja Kallas welhaast tot wanhoop. En met haar de EU-ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken die maandag in Brussel vergaderden. De Europese Commissie werkt hard aan een oplossing, vertellen EU-bronnen, maar het is niet zeker of die er snel komt.

Het traineren van sanctiepakketten "hebben we al vaker gezien", zei Kallas na afloop van de vergadering. Het intrekken van een eerdere Hongaarse toezegging niet, en dat maakt de EU-ministers woedend.

De lening is het meest urgent, want Oekraïne heeft het geld op 1 april nodig. Wachten op een machtswisseling in Hongarije, dat op 12 april naar de stembus gaat, kan volgens EU-bronnen niet.

Kallas betreurt het dat het niet is gelukt om de Hongaren alsnog mee te krijgen, zei ze. Ze had met nieuwe sancties en een definitief akkoord over de lening aan Oekraïne een krachtig signaal willen geven "dat we Oekraïne blijven helpen".

Video footage shows former peer being driven away shortly after being escorted from his London home by officers

• UK politics live – latest updates

Peter Mandelson has been arrested by detectives investigating claims he committed misconduct in public office during his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Video footage showed him being driven away from his home in an unmarked car shortly after being escorted from his home by officers.

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After relegation fears, historic late victory has goalkeeper jumping in the stands and El Sadar dreaming of Europe

There’s only one thing better than celebrating a brilliant 90th-minute winner that at last delivers victory over the team you most want to beat, 15 long years later. Celebrating it twice. So this Saturday, that was exactly what Sergio Herrera did. At the north end of El Sadar, where for one night only they thought VAR might be a good thing, Raúl García applied the brakes, sent Raúl Asencio sliding by out of shot and curled a gorgeous finish beyond Thibaut Courtois to defeat Real Madrid 2-1; at the south end, Osasuna’s keeper turned, jumped over the hoardings where the ticker tape, armbands and beach balls lay spent, and leapt into the arms of the fans going wild behind his goal, an extra notch somehow found on that volume dial, pandemonium taking Pamplona.

Which was when someone noticed that the assistant had his flag up, the referee, Alejandro Quintero, had his whistle in his mouth, and García had his hands over his face. Herrera climbed down, lamenting his lack of patience, but he didn’t have to wait long until everything turned out nice again and he got to have another go. Sixty-four seconds passed before Quintero took his finger out his ear, drew a screen and pointed at the centre circle. The offside overruled, the goal given, victory over Madrid close, Herrera set off once more. He sprinted along the line and back again screaming all the way, let loose for good this time. “Bloody hell,” he said after, the offside had been a blow – “una leche”, in his words – but this was marvellous.

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Some think yoga isn’t for them – but there’s ‘something for everybody’. Experts share what to know about the mindful practice that can improve strength and sleep

Countless articles and studies tout the benefits of yoga. It can improve balance, strength, flexibility, digestion and sleep. It can also reduce stress and support mental wellbeing. And yet many people feel like yoga isn’t for them because their bodies don’t look or move a certain way.

“That is how I felt before I started practicing yoga,” says Jessamyn Stanley, who has written two books about yoga and co-founded the yoga app The Underbelly. “I always thought yoga was just for thin, white women,” she says.

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As another major storm brings to the area up to 2ft of snow, people brave the weather to commute and shovel

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From the frontline to underground shelters to children’s funerals, Kochetova has captured the war in Ukraine with power and humanity for the Guardian. ‘I have the same scars as the people I photograph,’ she says ahead of a major show

Julia Kochetova is unlike most of the people who cover Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the Guardian. The photographer lives in Kyiv; she is Ukrainian. It is her country that is being invaded, her friends who are being killed.

The war that began in 2014 and brutally escalated on 24 February in 2022 has infused every part of her existence. It is fundamental to her life choices, her relationships, her friendships, her career (when she was younger she had planned to go to art school in Germany, but photojournalism beckoned). She is at home on the frontline, and could give you battlefield first aid if you needed it. She is also a vegetarian who makes an exception for meat-based borsch; reads poetry when we’re on the road together; and can wash and brush out her waist-length hair in unusual locations and at surprising speed. Her driving style lies somewhere on the spectrum between chaotic and shrewd, and she can recommend you a good place for a manicure in Kyiv. She is 32 years old. She has organised more funerals than anyone should have to do in a lifetime.

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Sending humans around the Moon in February, er, March - now April 2026, maybe

The quest to return to the Moon has hit another snag. NASA is delaying Artemis II again, as interrupted helium flow to the rocket’s upper stage forces a rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and wipes out the March launch window.…

Wunderhorse

The Clause

Plan B

Crystal Tides

The Vines

Williams have announced that Damon Hill is returning to the team as an Official Ambassador, 30 years after the Briton won the World Championship with the Grove-based outfit.

Among humpback whales, which can grow upwards of 60 feet long and weigh up to 40 tons, instances of albinism are exceedingly rare. But when these otherworldly all-white mammals appear—such as the beloved Migaloo that was first spotted in 1991 off Australia’s east coast—they inspire wonder.

Marine photographer Jono Allen captured a unique shot of a baby white humpback being nudged by its mother, taking the top prize in the 2026 World Nature Photography Awards (WNPA), in addition to winning the Underwater category.

The seventh edition of WNPA continues to highlight the diversity, beauty, and inherent vulnerability of our planet’s wildlife and ecosystems. From Mary Schrader’s tender portrait of a gorilla observing a butterfly to Miki Spitzer’s enigmatic drone photo of a mineral pool that looks like the close-up of a dragon’s eye, all of the winning photos emphasize curiosity and awe.

The contest is now accepting entries for its 2027 edition. See the winners’ gallery and learn more on WNPA’s website.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article A Rare White Whale Sighting Tops the 2026 World Nature Photography Awards appeared first on Colossal.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

A study published last week in PNAS found that people who regularly cause problems or make life difficult -- whom the researchers call "hasslers" -- are associated with measurably faster biological aging in those around them, at a rate of roughly 1.5% per additional hassler and about nine months of additional biological age relative to same-age peers.

The research drew on DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks and ego-centric network data from a state-representative probability sample of 2,345 adults in Indiana, aged 18 to 103. Nearly 29% of respondents reported at least one hassler in their close network. The biological toll varied by relationship type: hasslers who were family members showed the strongest and most consistent associations with accelerated aging, while spouse hasslers showed no significant effect on either epigenetic measure.

The damage also went beyond aging clocks -- each additional hassler was associated with greater depression and anxiety severity, higher BMI, increased inflammation, and higher multimorbidity. When benchmarked against smoking, a major behavioral risk factor for aging, the hassler effect corresponded to roughly 13 to 17% of smoking's estimated impact on the same aging clocks.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.